Pillow, mattress, and the like



Patented Nov. 8, 1938 UNITEDHYSTATES PILLOW, MATTRESS, AND THE LIKE" Julius L. Berenson, Allston, Mass, assignor to Allergia Products Company, Newton, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts No Drawing. Application October 29, 1935, Serial No. 47,271

3 Claims.

Exhaustive searches have been made over a long period of years for some material suitable for use as a padding in pillows, mattresses, and other cushion-like bodies, adapted to meet the 5 requirements of patients suffering from allergic difficulties. This matter is of the utmost importance to persons afflicted with asthma and similar troubles in which an allergic element is an important factor, and the medical profession has given much study to this subject since an answer to it is essential in effecting a cure.

Of the various materials commonly used in pillows and mattresses, feathers, hair, wool, and cottonhave all proved highly objectionable in cases of this kind. In fact, the irritation and discomfort which these materials cause to patients suffering from allergic complaints has been the chief reason for the wide search for other materials not having these objectionable characteristics. Silk floss or kapok has been tried but with only indifferent success due to the fact that the fiber crumbles and powders badlyafter only a relatively short period of use. Artificial silks of the various cellulosic types have also been used. While they are more satisfactory than kapok from the standpoint of crumbling, they lack the resiliency which is absolutely essential to comfort. Moreover, even when these artificial silk fibers are so produced or so treated as to make them curly and kinky, they lose this property so quickly during use that they are not satisfactory.

The best solution for this problem which has so far been devised, and the one commonly recommended by the medical profession, is anair filled rubber pillow or mattress. These, while having the necessary non-allergic properties, are recognized as leaving much to be desired from the standpoint of comfort.

The present invention is especially concerned with this problem and it aims to devise a thoroughly practical solution for it.

I have discovered that a highly satisfactory material for these purposes can be made of silk fiber. It should be understood that in referring to silk I mean real silk, or that produced by the silkworm, as distinguished from the various kinds of artificial silks, silk substitutes, and socalled silk fibers obtained from vegetable sources. True silk fiber can be treated in various Ways to make it curly, kinky and resilient, and these forms of silk are suitable for the purposes of the present invention. A product equally as good for'these purposes, however, and having the advantage of being considerably less expensive, is that known commercially as silk noils. In this material the silk fiber is present in an extremely fine form, since it has never been spun or otherwise fabricated, but it also is very curly, kinky, highly resilient, and has the soft smooth feel characteristic of silk.

According to the preferred practice this material is prepared by sterilizing it in some convenient manner as, for example, by heating in an oven at such a temperature and for such a length of time as to kill any bacteria which it may contain. A temperature of two hundred degrees maintained for twenty minutes is ample for this purpose. Or a lower temperature for a longer period may be used. For mattresses it is preferable to run the stock through a garnetting machine and to work the web issuing from this machine into the form of a bat. The bat can be built up to dimensions suited to the requirements of individual situations. In making pillows, the material can be picked lightly and blown directly into the pillow cases.

It has been definitely determined by experience that patients suffering from allergic symptoms which are aggravated by the ordinary padding materials can, with practically no exception, use pillows, mattresses, and the like, filled with this silk fiber with entire satisfaction. Furthermore, a pillow or mattress made of this material is immensely superior from the standpoint of comfort to the inflated type of cushion. The individual fibers are strong and tough, they are not easily broken, and they seem to retain their resiliency almost indefinitely. A pillow filled with this material can be fiuffed up exactly as a feather pillow, and can thus be restored to its soft condition exactly as pillows of the latter While this material can be used in the ordinary mattress covers and pillow cases, it is preferable to make these enclosing envelopes of fabrics which either are made without sizing or else have been de-sized. Usually such tickings and envelope fabrics consist of cotton and are heavily sized. This sizing, however, can be removed by laundering and de-sizing operations commonly used in the textile industry, and such a treatment is preferable because almost all of these sizing compounds consist of powdery substances, or are of such a nature that they break down into a powdery form after a relatively short period of use.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. A non-allergic cushion-like structure com- 3. A non-allergic cushion-like structure comprising a fabric envelope substantially devoid of sizing, and a resilient filling within said envelope consisting entirely of sterilized silk noils, loosely entangled with each other.

JULIUS L. BERENSON. 

